Metallic mattress-frame



A. E. KENNEY.

METALLIC MATTRESS FRAME.

Patented Nov. 5, 1895.

WJT NEE 5E5- L L .0

'TJNITTED STATES PATENT Trice.

ALPl-IONSO E. KENNEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS METALLIC MATTRESS-FRAM E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,370, dated November 5, 1895.

b. Application filed August 12, 1895. Serial No. 559,049. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALPHONSO E. KENNEY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Mattress-Frames, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

The object of this invention is to simplify,

cheapen, and perfect the metallic frames and fastenings of wire bed-bottoms, and thus to furnish a permanently durable elastic support for beds.-

My improvement relates to the means of connecting together the tubular rails of the frame, and also to the means of securing the ends of the wire fabric to the end rails of the frame.

My invention is in the nature of an improvement upon that set forth in the Letters Patent No. 510,541, granted December 12, 1893, to myself and W'. H. Taber for a mattress-frame, and also in Letters Patent No. 545,801, granted to me September 3, 1895, for metallic mattress-frames. In both said patents the frame was composed of tubular metallic side rails and end rails bolted together at the corners and provided with adjusting-screws, the side rails or the brackets being longitudinally slotted to permit adjustment of the end rail. I now omit bolting the rails together and also omit all slotting of rails or brackets and all adjusting devices, and I give the wire fabric at the outset such permanent tension as is desirable by attach ing it under suitable strain. The rails are united at each corner of the frame by a bracket having a shank, preferably polygonal, entering the end of the side rail, and an upturned arm fitting the end railand firmly secured thereto by a strong screw or a simple bolt and nut. The axis of the concavity in the bearing-arm is at right angles to the shank.

The attaching means for woven-wire bedbottoms consists of a flattened metallic strip, preferably of so-called half-oval iron, fiat on the under side and curved on the upper side, with sharp edges and a series of screws through said strip and fabric and into the end rail. The wire-fabric end is pinched between the strip and rail and the body of the fabric is turned backward over the strip and screw-heads by a method peculiar to my invention. This fabric extends thence to the opposite end rail and is held securely byreason of the sharp turn over the edges of the strips, and because of the pinch exerted by applying the str ins of use to the outer edges of the strips.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of one corner of the tubular frame, showing 'a portion of the woven-wire fabric and the strip which secures it to the end rail. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the strip, tubes, and bracket-arm on lines 2 2 of Fig 1. Fig. 3 is a detail in section showing a rectangular fastening-strip. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of my improved bracket. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the side rail and bracket-shank on line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is an elevation of one corner of the frame with a different wire fabric and securing means.

A is the side rail, and B the end rail of the frame, both of wrought iron or steel tubes say one and five-eighths inches in diameter with walls one-eighth of an inch thick, which sizes give the requisite lightness, stiffness, and strength for such frames for ordinary beds. These rails are joined at the corners, not directly by bolts, as heretofore, but by the peculiar brackets shown, to which one rail is bolted. Each bracket has a shank O, preferably of polygonal form, adapted to enter and approximately fit the end of the side rail A, which, as shown, bears against a shoulder D at the central part of the bracket. From this shoulder an arm E rises, formed with a curved face to fit the side of the end rail B, which is secured to it by a bolt F and a terminal nut F. A web or strengthening-flange G reinforces the bracket at its upward bend. A polygonal shank can be driven in and removed more readily, and is less likely to split the rail end than a tight-fitting cylindrical one, as it bears only along certain lines, and the tubular rail can yield to it somewhat. A light and strong cruciform shank is indicated in Fig. 5 by dotted lines, denoting triangular portions, which may be omitted in casting.

H represents the woven-wire or like fabric, constituting the bed bottom or metallic mattress, stretched from one end rail to the other and firmly secured thereto. Flattened metallic strips J, preferably of half-oval iron, having a flat bottom, oval top, and sharp lateral edges, are pressed down upon the turned-under ends of the web of fabric and held by a series of screws K, threaded into the rail B. The secure attachment is not due to the mere pressure between the strip and rail, but mainly to the sharp or angular turn of the wire web over the outer edge of the strip, which converts each individual wire into a hook, engaging at a defined point or points with the outer edge of the strip which clamps its end, while the whole series of in terwoven wires composing the web extend from such outer edge over the strip J and the heads of its fasteningscrews K to the opposite end of the frame. The strains of use tend to tilt the strips slightly and pinch the ends of the wires at and near the line of the fastening-screws K, where the flat bottom of the strip meets the cylindrical end rail. The importance of this form of fastening will be evident from the fact that a pressure equal to thousands of pounds weight would fail to hold the wire fabric if the strain was direct from the under side and inner edges of the strips, as the individual wires would slip out of the grip, not all of them being held equally, and none of them having the hook action, the defined point of resistance, and the peculiar pinch afforded by my plan.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6 the frame and bracket are the same as in the other figures; but another wellknown wire fabric is indicated, with its suspendingsprings hooked into a transverse plate J, secured to the end rail.

I am aware that bed-frames in great variety have been proposed and used and I make no broad claim whatever. The special merit of my improvement lies in its great simplicity and consequent cheapness and the absence of all superfluous parts. The four framerails are plain cylindrical metal tubes united only by the peculiar brackets described and shown, to which the end rails are rigidly bolted, said end rails and bolts constituting the extreme outermost parts and having no adjustment toward or from each other. To the convex exterior of these metallic tubes the wire fabric H is secured by the flattened metal strips K, screwed down upon the turnedunder ends of the fabric, which hooks over the sharp outer edges of such strips, as explained.

I disclaim everything which differs essent-ially from my said improvement as herein set forth, and especially the devices shown in the following United States Patents, viz: Bigeon, No. 12 ,798, January 16, 1872; Farnham, No. 129,121, July 16, 1872; Ramus, No. 24:9,481, November 15, 1881, and Jones, No. 474,911., May 17, 1892.

I claim as my invention- 1. The described mattress frame formed of tubular metallic side rails and end rails arranged rectangularly and united at the four corners of the frame by integral metallic brackets, each bracket having a shank fitting within the end of the tubular side rail, and an upwardly extending arm having a concave outer face adapted to'fit the convex surface of the end rail and form a seat for said end rail, with a fastening bolt rigidly uniting such arm and end rail, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with a tubular metallic mattress frame and the wire fabric therefor of the flattened metallic strips J mounted longitudinally on the end rails, the ends of the wire fabric passing over the upper surface of said strips and around their outer edges, and being then turned under and clamped between the flat under surfaces of said strips and the surfaces of the end rails, said strips being secured to the end rails by the screws K, substantially as set forth.

The described integral corner bracket for uniting tubular metallic bed-frames, consisting of the shank 0 adapted to fit within the end of the tubular side rail, the shoulder 1% bearing against and closing the end of the side rail, and the arm 1*] rising therefrom and having a concave outer face adapted to fit the convex surface of the end rail and form a seat therefor, substantially as set forth.

4. In a metallic bed-bottom, tubular metallic side rails and end rails and rigid metallic brackets, uniting said rails into a rectangular frame, in combination with a'woven wire fabric secured to the end rails by fiattened metallic strips held thereon by screws, passing through said strips and fabric, the ends of such fabric being hooked over the outer edges of said strips, and the screwheads, strips and wire-ends being covered by the body of wire fabric, to prevent contact of the beddingtherewith, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALPHONSO E. KENNEY.

\Vitnesses:

A. 11. SPENCER, WILLIAM A. COPELAND. 

